Recovering from Christmas

Well, Christmas and even New Year’s are over. My family has come and gone and now I’m feeling a bit dizzy in the wake of it all. Mom, dad, my sister and our little family had a great visit with a little unexpected excitement thrown in. My sister was flying out of Kansas City on Christmas Day and, as you probably know, a big winter storm blew through a lot of States right about that time. Her flights were delayed causing her to miss her flight to Bolivia. My parents stayed behind in Miami to wait for her, planning to all catch a flight the next day. But that would mean they would have to stay the night in Santa Cruz, Bolivia. Because they don’t know the city or the language and because we didn’t want to wait a whole other day to see them, we decided to meet them in Santa Cruz. But the flights were full to get there so we jumped in the car the next day and made the drive. This kind of last minute trip is pretty routine for us and we were happy to do it to see them as soon as possible. Jack is really an amazing traveler. He giggled and napped in the back seat for about 8 hours straight.

We met them in Santa Cruz and then all headed back to Sucre the next day. All went smoothly on the trip from there and we had a wonderful time opening Christmas presents, going out to eat, seeing some of the city where we live, and just being together. We told them that for Christmas they could just go into Walmart and get a bunch of stuff that would seem boring to most people (shampoo, soap, toothpaste, candy, etc.) and we would love it. As a “bonus” Christmas present, they brought about half of Walmart to us. We had a great time looking through the fun stuff that we can’t get here. Of course, Jack loved being the center of attention and being with his Nana, Papa, and Aunt Auny.

I’ll try to post some pictures in the next couple of days. Hope you all had a great Christmas!

Christmas Trick or Treating

Since it’s Christmas Eve, I thought we’d take a break from the giving posts to talk about some lighter things. Today I’ve set the day aside to bake and clean. Tonight our team and some from our church will be together and tomorrow we’ll have the whole team over for Christmas lunch. There will be 10 of us. The day after Christmas my parents and sister will be coming to visit. Please pray that all goes well with their flights, especially for my sister who is flying out of Kansas City. They are expecting a lot of snow on Christmas day and we are hoping she makes it out. It will be her first trip to Bolivia.

At this time of year, kids walk around the neighborhood and relentlessly ring the doorbell asking for toys or clothes. People do this often around here and we probably get someone at our door a couple of times a week. Last year I was confused when big groups of kids were coming by. I finally figured out that it is like trick-or-treating for them. So I’ve decided to get into it and make them some cookies today. It’s only 8:30 a.m. and I’ve already had three groups of kids come by, one of which had about 10 boys in it. I hope I have enough!

I hope you and your families all have a very Merry Christmas Eve!

For Too Long

Trent wrote:

I was blessed to grow up in a Southern Baptist church. As a boy, I often heard stories about missionaries….you know, those great stories about how so many people got saved and how my offering was a part of that. Missions was always something exciting and inspiring and I loved the stories. I’m grateful for those experiences, but I have learned that there is much more to this concept of missions than what I grew up hearing.

You see, we’ve focused quite a bit on our bragging rights: that we are the largest protestant mission sending agency in the world; that our cooperative program paves the way for so many to hear about Jesus; that we are a mission minded denomination. Believe me, I am thankful for those things, and benefit greatly from them. But, if we just focus on those things, we are kidding ourselves about the current situation of global lostness.

For too long, we have blinded ourselves from the disgusting reality of lostness with the shade of our efficiency in sending missionaries. Here is the truth: last year, Southern Baptist churches reported reciepts of almost 12 billion dollars. Of that amount, less than 2.5 % was channeled to reach a lost world for Christ. As Jerry Rankin asks, “Is it more important to maintain our institutions, sustain church programs and support a denominations structure centered on 5 percent of the world’s population that is already well-churched than to send the missionaries God is calling out of our own churches to reach the 95% of the world who are deprived of an opportunity to know Jesus?”

Friends have been asking how the economic crisis is affecting our work. To be sure, we are facing cut backs in several areas. It looks like our travel will become pretty limited in the months ahead. One of our main goals is traveling to remote areas to train national believers how to be missionaries. This is one of the most effective ways we can impact lostness, and it will be reduced greatly. Our team has traditionally been composed of a mix of North American journeymen and South Americans. The opportunity for the journeymen will practically disappear  in the months and years ahead to be involved in our work. I recently heard a story of an IMB couple who lives in a market town in a remote area of the Amazon basin. Their goal was to meet indigenous from a isolated tribe, be invited into their community, and record stories from Scripture in their dialect….a task that will require time.  God answered prayer, and they met elders from two different tribes. Now they have to decide which of these two tribes will have the opportunity to know and worship our Savior.  Were finances not such an issue, I’m sure we could send another couple to work with the other tribe. But for now, the unchosen tribe will continue to live and sleep in fear and hopelessness. As we celebrate the birth of our Lord, they will continue to try to satisfy the spirits that haunt them. Their old, and some of their young will die with no hope. WHY?

I wish we could just blame it all on the economic crisis in general. But, when we are not giving more than 2.5% of our church income to missions, the economic situation is hardly an excuse. This is a problem that we should not have. The reality is absolutely disgusting. We have much to be ashamed of. Brian Mimbs, pastor of Chapel Hill Baptist Church in Florida says it well: “God is calling and sending, but at our historical height of financial capacity, the Christian church in America is, at best, asleep at the wheel and, at worst, grossly over-concerned with padding our own pews to the detriment of the unreached nations/people groups. As regards Christ’s church, ours is not a financial crisis, but a spiritual one.”

Ask the leadership in your church what percentage of the church income goes to reach the rest of the world for Christ. And when you are discouraged by their response, do something. Propose change. Give and encourage giving. Make people aware of this reality so that we can do something about it.

A Disclaimer

I’d like to start our giving posts with a disclaimer. Giving has never been easy for me. You know those spiritual gifts quizzes you can take? Well, giving was always my lowest score. I don’t think it’s because I’m a stingy person, but I definitely want my giving to fit into a box. In our life back in the States, that wasn’t so hard. I made a budget and every month we faithfully gave our 10%. Some churches even allow you to automatically draft 10% out of your paycheck before you even see the money. It’s almost like it never even happened.

I have always wanted to simplify our life, but it was hard to not get caught up in the American lifestyle. You know what I mean: always living from paycheck to paycheck because you just can’t go out to eat enough or because you just had to put that couch set on credit after the dog scratched up the old one. There is just never an end to what we “need.”

I thought and hoped that moving overseas would easily solve this for me and in some ways it has. Some things I have no choice in and Wal-Mart and Target aren’t there hanging over my head every day begging me to buy something on sale. But in other ways, being here has taught me just how much I have to learn about giving. I am still always wanting more; always thinking about that next piece of furniture we need to replace; always fretting about how it’s all going to come out in the end.

Our Latin team members have taught me more than anyone about this subject. Their churches have agreed to give them $120 a month to live, work, and travel on. Even with Bolivia’s low prices, this leaves little room for luxuries. And if we’re being honest, their churches hardly ever give them their full $120 a month. Yet they have never talked of leaving the ministry for this reason. The are young and they could be out getting an education so that they can make more money or “bettering” themselves in a worldly way. Yet they trudge on faithfully and hardly ever utter a word about it.

Of course, when there is a need, we want to help them, especially if it means a bus ride out to where they will do the ministry. But you see, that doesn’t exactly fit in my box of giving. But I’m starting to learn that giving shouldn’t fit in a box, and I don’t like this lesson much at all. I’m not saying it’s wrong to make a budget and faithfully and responsibly give. This too is sacrifice. But sometimes there are needs apart from that. I would be embarrassed to tell you how many times I have begrudgingly given and complained to God about it. And each time God gently reminds me how little they have and how much our mission provides for us.

If only I could get out of this trap of thinking of luxuries as necessities. Think about it. Our list of “necessities” keeps growing and growing. I can remember growing up when we didn’t have a microwave, a dishwasher, or a VCR. Most people would never think of living without these now (Although some of you younger ones are thinking, “What’s a VCR?”). Now not only do we “need” Internet in our house, but also for our phones. I’ve never questioned running water or electricity as a need, yet I’ve seen people function just fine without them. Some of our best memories so far in life were swinging in our hammocks after dark when we were training in the jungle. Life was so simple. But as soon as I get back into the city, I need all those other things again.

I wish I could tell you how to simplify your life, because then I would know how to simplify mine. But as this new year approaches, will you think and pray with me on how to simplify your life, your home, your church; on how to give outside of your box; on how to give more to what is eternally important?

The Season of Giving

As many of you know, the Christmas season is when Southern Baptists, the denomination who sends us as missionaries, focus on giving to missions. Obviously we have a lot to say about this. First of all, we have always been proud to be a part of an organization that takes care of us so well and allows us to do what God has called us to do. Every other missionary we know with another organization has to spend a lot of time going to churches to raise their support. Southern Baptists have what is called the Cooperative Program. Each church gives a percentage of what they are given through tithes and offerings to the Cooperative Program and a large percentage of that goes to support missionaries like us.

Also, every year in December, churches gather money for the Lottie Moon Christmas offering (an offering whose name honors a former missionary to China). All of the receipts for this offering go to missionaries.

This system of supporting missionaries is the main reason why the Southern Baptist denomination was formed and still functions today to allow us to do what we do. Of course, now that we have been missionaries for a couple of years now, we see how much more there is to the story and we have a lot to say about giving. Over the next couple of days, we’ll post a few blogs about giving.

Tired, Tired, Tired

Why is Christmas so tiring? There is just so much to cram into the holiday season. But the thought of not doing all of those things is worse than doing them all and being exhausted. I think that’s why we love Christmas so much as kids, because we get to enjoy the fun stuff without all of the work.

We were sick most of our trip to Cochabamba, probably from eating too much processed foods. But we did get to rest a lot, which we really needed. We hit the ground running once we got back and it’s one of those times when I wonder when I’ll get to rest next. But I am enjoying our Christmas tree and listening to Christmas music or putting on a Christmas movie and watching five minutes of it before I fall off to sleep. We’re having church tonight at our house before everyone splits for the holidays and then will be with the ones who are still here for Christmas. The day after Christmas my parents and sister are coming to visit. So there is a lot to look forward to.

Today I am wishing I could go out into some cold weather and brave the crowds at the mall before I stop in at a Starbucks for a Peppermint Mocha. But I’ll settle for our new life where summer strangely comes during the holiday season. I’ll do my shopping online or at the crowded local market. And tonight as our little church sits around our Christmas tree awkwardly trying to think of Christmas songs that every culture in the room has in common, I’ll remember that I wouldn’t trade that for all the Peppermint Mochas in the world.

A Trip Away

Things have been especially busy lately. It has been really amazing how God has encouraged us during this discouraging time. Just when we thought we were at our lowest, God filled our plate with new opportunities and ideas to keep us from wallowing in our own petty understanding of the big picture. Of course, the baptisms were like icing on the cake. It seems that over the last month we haven’t stopped to breathe. We would fall into bed each night exhausted, normally after a house full of people just left, but we slept hard and satisfied knowing that we had done something that day.

Now our four guys (our three regulars and a new team member in training, David) are off on investigation trips. So we took the opportunity to head to Cochabamba, a larger city where Jack was born and where the next baby will be born, to visit the doctor and a few other missionaries we have been needing to meet with. As great as these last few weeks have been, it feels like breathing fresh air being here, having only a handful of things to do. The girls team is also here in language study and it will be great to see them after a while apart.

Cochabamba also has more imports and restaurants which is fun to take advantage of. I just finished a glass bottle of IBC Root Beer and a Milky Way and I feel very satisfied. We are also hoping to get to see a 4-D sonogram of our baby girl this weekend. So it should be a fun trip all the way around.

The Wedding Day

Somewhere along the way in Trent’s studies with the three guys, he started comparing baptism to a wedding. The commitment is what is really important in a marriage. The wedding is a way to celebrate that commitment and publicly show how important it is to you. I really liked this analogy and used it when I was talking with Matilde, the girl who was also considering baptism.

The wedding day finally happened for the three guys, Franco, Nico, Aquiles, and Matilde. The day dawned cloudy and rainy. It was lightening some but we decided to go ahead and go for it when we found out that the city was roadblocked in two places for two different events. Since half of us live in the city and half outside of the city, we didn’t know how plausible it would be for all of us to get out to the river. All of the odds were against the baptism happening that day. After several phone calls back and forth, we decided to just go for it.

We made it out, all of us, and drove about 45 minutes to the nearest river with about 3 feet of muddy water. We talked about baptism some in general and then those of us who have already been baptized gave a little encouragement to those about to be baptized. As we were talking, a group of goats passed by grazing on the mountain above us spraying rocks down on us. I thought this was the perfect touch to the very Bolivian baptism.

Before each person was baptized, he had the opportunity to talk about what this decision means to him. There was a little bit of trouble getting everyone under the very shallow water, but we did it.

That day happened to be the birthday of the mom of Matilde and Aquiles, so afterward we headed back to our house to celebrate her birthday and the baptisms. I can’t think of a better way to celebrate your birthday than to see two of your kids get baptized. Here are some pictures of one of the most amazing days I’ve ever had.

Election Day

Sunday is election day here in Bolivia. Whenever there is an election, certain rules apply. For example, you can’t drink or buy alcohol for a couple of days before the election. You can’t buy weapons. On the day of the election, you can’t drive nor is there transportation except for certain government vehicles. You can’t meet in groups, therefore restaurants are closed.

Today we went to the store and found that, as they occasionally do, they had cans of root beer. We got a few but got held up at the check out. “You can’t buy beer until after the election,” the cashier told us. Of course, it is imported and everything on the can is in English. Since Root Beer isn’t a common drink around here, she had no way of knowing that it is just a soda. We explained it to her but she felt she had to get her manager anyway. The manager came over and we explained that it’s just a soda with no alcohol. As is the case most of the time around here, she just shook her head and believed us, something I love about this culture.

Sunday will be a mandatory day of rest for us, something we really do need. I’m planning to use it to put up Christmas decorations while I have Trent hostage in the house. It should be fun.

Happy Birthday Jack Jack!

Today is our little Jack’s first birthday. We had a party for him Saturday where we did all of the usual like trying to keep him interested in the gifts rather than the plastic water bottle he found on the floor and let him eat way too much cake and get all messy. It was a fun day with our friends here all sitting around watching Jack. Here are some pictures. I’ll try to get some up on Jack’s page soon, so check back for more.